Chile is the leading Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) country in the United Nation's (UN) 2012 global e-government survey, and was ranked number 39 worldwide.

Colombia, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil were other highly-ranked countries in Latin America and were all rated among the top 60 countries worldwide for e-government.

The highest-ranked Central American country was Panama, at number 66 worldwide, followed by El Salvador and Costa Rica.

The lowest-ranked Latin American countries were Haiti at number 187 worldwide, Nicaragua at number 130 worldwide, Belize at number 124 and Suriname at 116, the UN report said.

The South America, Central America and Mexico and Caribbean regions all improved their average e-government indicators between 2010 and 2012.

A key pillar of the Latin American e-government strategy has been to take advantage of social networking media features to promote citizens' online participation, especially among the younger demographic, according to the report.

The UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have prepared a framework for developing e-government indicators along with a set of globally comparative e-government core indicators and statistical standards.

The UN's e-government ranking is based on components including online service, telecommunications infrastructure and human capital.

Colombia was the highest ranking country for online services, followed by Chile, Mexico and Brazil, while the lowest ranking countries for online services in the region were Haiti, Guyana, Dominica and Jamaica.

Antigua and Barbuda ranked highest for telecommunications infrastructure in Latin America, followed by Barbados, Dominica and the Bahamas.

The lowest-ranked countries for telecoms infrastructure in Latin America were Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Belize.

Meanwhile, Cuba ranked highest in the region and third highest worldwide for human capital, based on the level of adult literacy and education enrollment, with Barbados, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile also ranking highly on this measure.

In terms of e-participation, Colombia was the most highly-ranked country in Latin America, followed by Chile, Mexico, El Salvador and Brazil.

The lowest-ranked Latin American countries for e-participation were Suriname, Jamaica, Haiti, and Guyana.